The emerging role of Smart Cities and Smart Grid including IT/OT convergence brings to light the fact that many utilities provide diverse services, such as water, telecom, gas, electric, voice, internet, etc.

Interoperability was the theme of GeoConX, apropos as Esri technologies provide layers of data and visualization. The grid is becoming layered and electrical grids are becoming overlaid by telecommunications, customer requirements and interoperability of data and systems.

Zac Canders, co-founder and CEO of DataCapable, reported on what he observed at the conference. Part of the Keynote Presentations included a presentation on the “Vision and Future of Esri,” which from that viewpoint, “the future is the integration of what is available today.”

This demonstrates how important integration still is:

The integration of multiple enterprise apps

The integration of ArcGIS

The integration of the entire ecosystem (partner technology)

Some ArcGIS information includes the following:

Version: Utility customers should stay on 10.2 as they are working on tools associated with 10.5 that apply directly to the utility verticals.

Portal: The value of portal for GIS is emerging as the destination for the enterprise workforce which is becoming the norm across multiple industries

The portal can be viewed as the landing page for the enterprise of ArcGIS apps.

The National Grid and PG&E are two leaders on the adoption and use of Portal.

ArcGIS Server is being renamed to ArcGIS Enterprise, and below that, are the GIS servers, both hosted and non-hosted solutions.

Esri is releasing an ArcGIS Python API.

Portal-to-Portal Collaboration is something Esri is contemplating in the realm of interoperability and Smart Cities. Organizations with multiple portals and/or organizations (utilities, cities, districts, vendors, businesses, etc.) will want to cross collaborate with their portals.

Zac Canders’ company DataCapable is currently working with major service providers and enterprise vendors in the Electrical Utilities space. The company is also collaborating with several federal agencies on initiatives related to promoting the adoption of open data standards.

DataCapable is working in collaboration with one of the foremost academic research institutions in the world on the development of advanced analytics and algorithms for intelligent outage detection and real-time event prediction. DataCapable’s flagship product is called UtiliSocial.

GISCafe Voice asked Canders a number of questions related to the state of utilities and the movement toward or away from, alternative energy sources being part of the grid.

GISCafe Voice: What was the consensus on the incorporation of alternative power sources into the grid?

It’s happening, but regulation isn’t keeping up. Many utilities are still afraid to embrace cloud based systems because they can’t treat the investment as capital dollars. Crazy right? If revenues continue to drop at utilities something is going to have to change. This either means 1) utilities start to own generation assists which will challenge deregulation or 2) utilities decouple and become the managers of wires and poles. If we go down route 2, the attractiveness for investment as well as a skilled workforce will undoubtably decrease but it honestly may be unavoidable.

GISCafe Voice:When you talk about interoperability being the main topic, does this mean interoperability between disparate data sources, other than Esri products?

Interoperability of systems. Think of Esri as a canvas for developers by which data and associated system functionality can be shared and expanded upon. What we’re seeing across utility and other verticals is a general push (as mirrored in healthcare, telcom, and banking) that each vendor will be designed to support interoperability. Not bolted on but rather built in from the start. This evolution is happening at Esri. The partner network and startup program speak to this.

GISCafe Voice:I think it’s really interesting that electrical is becoming overlaid onto telecommunications, and perhaps part of this is the move toward Smart Cities?

Braintree Electric and Light located just outside the technology hub of Boston, MA was founded by Thomas Watson (credited with the first telephone call with Alexander Bell at Boston University). I’d argue the convergence has been long recognized, it was just that technology wasn’t ready. The challenge we’re just starting to address is how to access and manage all of this data. Node based applications and a general decentralization of intelligence has been an area DataCapable is actively watching. It’s really interesting as grid optimization is going to require processing data at the edge as well as robust communications network to backhaul the data (or calculations that happen at the edge).

GISCafe Voice:While we can’t possibly know what will ensue with the impending administration, how do you think the geospatial industry and utilities of all kinds will respond to the possible non-support of carbon neutral measures?

Adam Smith had this covered in 1776 (The Wealth of a Nation). In a free market supply and demand will reach equilibrium. I’ve got my concerns with some of the subsidies we’ve seen to help promote the push for renewables. There are places in the country where certain promises didn’t come to fruition that can be directly attributed to this. That being said, in my opinion, those initial subsidies did help and will continue to help with initial investment and R&D. At some point, technology has to be able to compete on it’s own. So to you questions, any non-support of carbon neutral measures will just mean that these renewable tech. will need to stand on their own, which many can do today.

CyberCity 3D’s patented 3D modeling software is a good match with DigitalGlobe’s high-accuracy, high-resolution satellite imagery to create accurate 3D “smart” city models that empower government agencies, the AEC/VDC industries, and utility companies in their decision-making and communications. Smart city models have become very valuable in providing realistic visualizations of cities, projects, utilities and city planning.

DigitalGlobe’s claim to fame is its advanced satellite constellation that collects more than 3 million square kilometers of Earth imagery daily (about the size of India). The creation of CyberCity 3D models will include the use of this state-of-the-art imagery.

Kevin DeVito, CyberCity 3D’s Founder and CEO, said: “Having the ability to access stellar stereo satellite data anywhere in the world under this strategically beneficial business relationship allows CyberCity 3D to be a major presence in the Smart City space along with the traditional GIS and 3D visualization channels,”

“I’m happy to add CyberCity 3D to our Information Partner Program. The combination of their 3D modeling expertise and our industry-leading satellite resolution and accuracy support ‘Smart City’ initiatives on a global basis,” said Drew Esson, Director of DigitalGlobe’s Information Partner Program. “Together with partners, such as CyberCity 3D, DigitalGlobe is unlocking information contained in satellite imagery that enhances customer’s confidence to make critical business decisions in order to build and manage the cities of the future.”

CyberCity 3D’s patented software builds accurate 3D “smart” buildings with thorough attributes that includes relative and absolute height, surface area total and roof slope. Including buildings in the smart city landscape adds spatial and visual context as well as data that can inform the geographical accuracy of the model.

Greenbelt, MD-based Orbit Logic, provider in mission planning, scheduling, and space situational awareness, announced recently the delivery of an updated version of its Direct Access Facility Collection Planning System (DAF CPS) software that includes WorldView-4 and provides multi-user planning enhancements to DigitalGlobe, Inc.

The updated planning software will make it possible for DigitalGlobe’s international Direct Access Program partners to receive imagery from WorldView-4 (planned for launch in September 2016) in addition to GeoEye-1, WorldView-1, WorldView-2, and WorldView-3, and supports the simultaneous collaborative work of multiple planners. While this is a new update of DAF CPS, Orbit Logic has supplied the collection planning software component for DigitalGlobe’s Direct Access Facility since the inception of the program in 2006.

Those who do not wish to incur the cost associated with direct satellite ownership will be pleased with DigitalGlobe’s Direct Access Program, that establishes trusted partnerships with select defense, intelligence, and commercial customers to provide priority access to DigitalGlobe’s constellation of high-resolution earth observation satellites. This allows customers to integrate DigitalGlobe satellites with their existing resources.

]]>http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/25/digitalglobe-and-cybercity-3d-agreement-and-orbit-logics-direct-access-facility-collection-planning-system/feed/0GIS Without Bounds from Boundlesshttp://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/17/gis-without-bounds-from-boundless/
http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/17/gis-without-bounds-from-boundless/#commentsThu, 17 Nov 2016 17:56:43 +0000http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/?p=4735Amazingly, 80 percent of all business data contains a location component, yet most organizations are not using it or don’t know how. On Nov. 15, Boundless expanded its open GIS solution into an ecosystem of geo-aware open source data, content and expertise that makes the latest GIS data easily available to developers and analysts in both public and private sectors.

This expansion addresses the increasing demand for an alternative to proprietary geospatial solutions (Esri and Hexagon, for example). Boundless offers greater functionality than Esri’s ArcGIS at 10 percent of the cost.

With Boundless’ open, cloud-based and highly scalable platform, developers can deploy an entire scalable GIS infrastructure with just one line of code, and analysts can visualize all of their geospatial data in real time without any licensing fees.

GISCafe Voice: If a customer has an ArcGIS Desktop, why/how would they want to get a subscription to Boundless Connect?

ArcGIS Desktop is a desktop application, whereas Boundless Connect represents a cloud-based ecosystem of resources. It is very conceivable that an ArcGIS Desktop user will want to register for Boundless Connect (it’s a free registration, no subscription needed) in order to find GIS resources to complete their work. For example, an ArcGIS Desktop user might be asked to determine where to place the next big box store (like a Target or BestBuy). That user could search Boundless Connect for datasets, for analytical tools written in Python, or style files for visualizing their analysis results in a cartographically pleasing way. Boundless also offers Boundless Desktop subscriptions to those who want an open source alternative to ArcGIS Desktop. In addition to massive costs savings, Boundless Desktop works cross-platform (Windows, Mac and Linux), innovates very quickly with major releases every 6 months, and has the Boundless Connect ecosystem behind it to ensure your success.

GISCafe Voice:What are the most common GIS systems that most customers want to connect up?

Boundless has a broad range of customers who perform everything from oil well head maintenance, to military mission planning, to agricultural crop yield estimation, and everything in-between. As we move farther into the era of connected sensors, wearables and the Internet of Things, we are seeing a trend of more organizations needing to process geospatial ‘big data’ in the cloud. Unlike proprietary systems which require ‘credits’ or impose high license costs to scale in elastic cloud environments, the Boundless open source platform does not penalize you for scaling up or out. You can grow your GIS as much as needed to process ‘big data’, and then scale it back down in an elastic manner when you are done. Any whether you are a desktop GIS user in an office, or a disconnected field worker in a remote location, Boundless has a solution to meet your needs.

GISCafe Voice: How much customization do you do for customers in using the Boundless Connect subscription?

Boundless Connect is a one-stop-shop for all your geospatial needs. It is a global ecosystem of learning materials, training videos, how-tos, datasets, analysis tools, style files and more. So Boundless Connect itself does not have options for customization at this time. However, our GIS portal Boundless Exchange and our desktop software Boundless Desktop both offer customization options. Everything from changing the look and feel, to adding additional tools/widgets, to adding custom logos and graphics. Because these products are based on open source projects, customization is a built-in part of the experience.

GISCafe Voice:Does Boundless Connect offer integration of the location and other data that comes through or does it allow the customer to interact with the data – view, markup, analyze, etc. but leave the data in its original format in its original database?

Boundless Connect simply indexes the data wherever it lives so that it can be discovered easily by users from around the globe. If you are looking for a way to index data, and offer up collaboration (markup, analysis, etc), then you will want to look at Boundless Exchange. Exchange is a geospatial content management system (a GIS Portal) designed to support search, discovery, and collaboration of data via the web. Organizations can upload their content to Exchange, and users throughout the organization can view, edit and collaborate on that data. Boundless Exchange offers a great alternative to users who have implemented Portal for ArcGIS on their private networks.

Yes. The entire Boundless ecosystem leverages the GDAL/OGR open source data library. GDAL includes support for hundreds of different vector and raster data formats including aeral and satellite imagery, LiDAR point clouds, openstreetmap data and more. Esri leverages the same data library inside its products as well, which means we support the same data formats the ArcGIS platform supports.

]]>http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/17/gis-without-bounds-from-boundless/feed/2Bentley Media Day: Government and Utilitieshttp://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/10/bentley-media-day-government-and-utilities/
http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/10/bentley-media-day-government-and-utilities/#commentsThu, 10 Nov 2016 22:21:34 +0000http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/?p=4724On Media Day at the Bentley Year In Infrastructure 2016 Conference held in London, the media was treated to Industry presentations for the various industry segments that Bentley Systems serves. The event is a vehicle for Bentley’s jurored Be Inspired Awards, which are bestowed on the selected finalists at a Wednesday evening gala event. Prior to the event, technology sessions highlight the work of the finalists and the company provides industry forums to showcase new technologies on the horizon.

Presented in the Government and Utilities presentation was Bentley’s Unified View of Data:

Modeling

Greater 3D collaboration

Multi-discipline design

Data

Greater collaboration with the supply chain

Common environments

Web publishing

Performance

Operational analytics

Asset reliability/health checking

The concept of “going digital” was introduced by Robert Mankowski, vice president, Project Development, Asset Performance at Bentley Systems, who explained that engineering and construction firms were using ProjectWise CONNECTEdition for a “going digital strategy,” that provides a live and open Connected Data Environment to improve project delivery.

“The Bentley products Amulet, eB, Ivara, InspectTech, Optram, SUPERLOAD, Exor, and Geo Web Publisher have been serving need of owner/operators for ten years or so, and are workhorses to help them manage assets and inspections and focus on spatial enablement and mapping of their assets,” said Smith.

AssetWise ConnectEdition makes possible the merging of assets and solutions into a connected environment. They can add adjacent capabilities easily. The Connected Data Environment provides both comprehensive project delivery and asset performance TOTEX. It is able to easily receive information and put it into context for reuse.

While spatial and network aware, the environment enables information to be referenced along pipe networks or on a map.

Wang Wei, Team Leader of Digital Center, Hubei Electric Engineering Corporation, had this to say about their experience: “Bentley’s digital platform solution has been fully applied across multiple disciplines and phases of the Miaoshan 220kV Secondary Transformer Substation project, bringing significant improvements to design efficiency and quality, providing strong technical support for construction, operations and maintenance. This project achieved good social and economic benefits.”

Bentley Substation enjoys a new release which sports the following capabilities:

Robert Mankowski spoke on the topic, “Reality Modeling and Hydraulic Modeling.”

“Reality modeling is our tool designed to create a model of existing reality as the basis of your design,” said Mankowski. “And Reality Modeling goes mainstream for project delivery and owner operators.”

Existing infrastructure projects are undergoing constant change. With the advent of smartphones with GPS and camera capabilities, as well as advances in algorithms, Bentley has been able to create this technology for modeling those existing conditions. GPS units built into phones provide location. Laser scanners, drones, iPhone, can capture images and point clouds from which users can reconstruct the 3D reality of existing conditions.

Bentley acquired Acute3D a year or so ago, which became their ContextCapture product. This year we are viewing the consumption of Reality Modeling. ContextCapture can enhance all aspects of the infrastructure asset lifecycle.

Capabilities of ConceptCapture include:

Hybrid inputs – point clouds and photos

Cloud service for convenience and higher performance

Support for ContextCapture meshes in ConceptStation and ConstructSIM

Meshes and photos managed by ProjectWise

ContextCapture has become a key technology in a short space of time. 15 of 60+ Be Inspired Award finalists are using it this past year. 68 countries are using it. The latest edition supports laser scanning for improved accuracy.

The City of Helsinki, winners in the category, Innovation in Reality Modeling, used the technology for modeling the entire city of Helsinki.

Challenges and outcomes of their project are as follows:

Problem:

To model the entire city of Helsinki using over 50,000 digital photographs

Outcomes:

ContextCapture created a reality model of the entire city

The reality model Is integrated with their already existing city information model based on CityGML standards.

The data produced will be provided for free to the public and stakeholders via a Web portal.

“You can do queries and visualizations like you would with a GIS, combining the vector data of subsurface utilities with a BIM model embedded in there,” said Mankowski. “By using the structure of the BIM model we can display parts of it in the reality context.

The cost effectiveness of this technique allows it to be done frequently and rapidly, mashing up different time periods of reality context models that were built. You couldn’t do this with traditional survey methods.”

The product Bentley LumenRT was created by leaders in digital nature, Eon Software. The technology, used in the motion picture industry, enlivens the visualizations you have created by combining proposed reality with existing reality. You can look inside buildings from floor to floor, simulate the time and day of the year. LumenRT is built into ConceptStation and available for general access.

Bentley Descartes accelerates the use of Reality Modeling in engineering workflows, by processing point cloud data and reality meshes for the engineering workflow.

Hydraulic modeling

In the area of hydraulic modeling, Mankowski pointed to the Bentley products WaterGEMS, WaterCAD and HAMMER CONNECTEditions for which the company has added the following capabilities:

Create and manage customized reports

Updated user interface

Operate pumps and valves based on their historical values imported from SCADA systems

Model turbines for energy and revenue generation

Create moves of model animations to share with project stakeholders

Integrate with AssetWise Operational Analytics.

These CONNECTEditions are available now for general access.

Mankowski summarized by pointing out that utility experts are scared to death of cyber security. “One of our business solutions is around safety and compliance asset management platform; this is a key opportunity to leverage the power of this built into business solutions.”

“Microsoft Azure cloud has all the security ratings, and is ISO 271 certified,” he continued. “It has all processes in place, and we have a cyber security group that reviews and does testing.”

For smart cities, there is so much information coming in to the emerging field. The challenge is how to talk about smart cities in an intelligent way, said Mankowski.

“Can we achieve a smart city?” The question was asked. The process will be different with different cities, but the model can become more granular with time and experience, said Mankowski. The possibilities of integrating with Maximo, a work management system, Esri data, new BIM models that display the interiors of buildings and subsurface, combined with ioT models are seemingly limitless.

*While we make our best effort to cover the above listed topics, we have no way of predicting what current events will prevail over the course of the year. Fortunately, in the context of blog coverage, we can cover a great deal of news. We have listed events that we plan to attend, but there may be others that are not on our list. Please let us know if you have an event that we might want to cover. Please contact Susan Smith susan.smith@ibsystems.com or Sanjay Gangal sanjay.gangal@ibsystems.com

]]>http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/08/giscafe-editorial-calendar-2017/feed/0Bentley Year In Infrastructure 2016 – Integrating GIS and BIMhttp://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/03/bentley-year-in-infrastructure-2016-integrating-gis-and-bim/
http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/03/bentley-year-in-infrastructure-2016-integrating-gis-and-bim/#commentsThu, 03 Nov 2016 16:58:59 +0000http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/?p=4706It’s difficult not to be inspired when attending the Bentley Year In Infrastructure Conference, with so many talented professionals gathered to show off their infrastructure projects.

The Bentley Year In Infrastructure 2016 Conference kicked off in London at the Hilton London Metropole on Monday, bringing together the finalists in the BE Inspired Awards juried competition for excellence in various categories, including Reality Modeling, Bridges, Water Treatment Plants, Offshore, Water Network Analysis, Structures, Construction, Manufacturing, Rail and Transit, Building, Utilities and Communication, Government, Roads and much more. Journalists from around the world also flocked to the event.

Innovation in Government finalist: Research and Design institute for Urban Transportation “MosgortransNIIproekt” – Comprehensive Engineering Plan of the Road Infrastructure in Moscow – (Moscow, Russia) Image Courtesy of Bentley Systems

This year, over 300 projects were submitted to the awards from numerous countries. The finalists, pared down to three in each category, offer presentations about their projects, which in many cases, have spanned many years in process, full of many seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The good news generally is that in the end, the finalists have solved the major problems, satisfied their stakeholders and have a lot to be proud of.

Bentley thought leaders also use the opportunity to announce new products and partnerships.

The event also provides a full complement of keynotes and forums on topics of interest to GIS and AEC users, some of which I will cover in separate articles. The combination of GIS with Building Information Modeling is an area Bentley has spent a lot of time on with their CONNECTEdition offerings.

Bentley’s suite of tools are transitioning over to the CONNECTEdition, Bentley’s platform for connecting all the tools together and providing live documentation.

The phrase heard often during the Bentley conference was “going digital.” While we talk about digital, it appears that many companies are still dealing with analog in their day to day solutions.

The “common data environment” is where Bentley envisions hosting software in the cloud in a central location on behalf of the owner. The owner may Bentley to run the software for them. Within this framework, they can integrate different tools in a “virtual construction model.”

On Tuesday, Bentley’s chief product officer, Bhupinder Singh, kicked off the keynote with a talk about how and why to go digital.

“Digital helps you extend the life of existing assets,” noted Singh. “We all have something in common: we have dedicated most of our professional lives to infrastructure. All of the quality of life on the planet is dependent on the quality of infrastructure. And sadly, we see evidence of infrastructure living far beyond its lifecycle. We need to make the built world more resilient in the face of extreme climate conditions, for example.”

Switching gears to a vision of a perhaps not-so-distant future, Singh asked the audience to imagine the combination of self-driving cars with roads equipped with self-sensing real-time sensors, that can report conditions back to us, with intelligence.

As sensors are now an integral part of the built environment, this is very feasible. In 2016, we will have 6.4 billion connected things and possibly 20.8 billion by 2040.

Seguey to CONNECTEdition that provides asset performance with AssetWise to OpenRoads. Data is more valuable in connected workflows where other vendors’ formats are supported, said Singh. The building blocks that connect CONNECTedition currently include:

ContextCapture for capturing real-time data from photos, laser scans and UAVs to add to BIM and other models;

AssetWise to get data into context, record all relevant information, bring in information from design and construction, then resurface it to improve performance, and to move on to the next iteration of that asset. “If you don’t have a connected environment you won’t be able to achieve BIM Level 3,” warned Singh. (BIM, or building information modeling, has been segmented into three levels of usage).

Analytics have traditionally resided on top of solutions, “but we want to offer it inside the platform, as well as surfacing it as its own tool as well,” said Singh. “We’ve been extending it, added statistical language with the R language, and working with the Microsoft team on deep machine learning.”

Technology can be made deliverable through a service, letting Bentley manage your environment for you by having a delivery model that makes sense for the given asset.

“In the past, we haven’t made it easy when moving from one model to another,” said Singh. “With ProjectWise or AssetWise, and the number of assets being managed, we want to size the value to the value the system is actually providing. This will make it easier for planning, experimentation, etc., so subscriptions are offered.”

Asset reliability – pulls everything together, using features to plan maintenance and inspection.

Compliance and safety – Crossrail uses this for routing permits for oversize vehicles

Operational analytics – looking at AssetWise data and other data management, make InSite part of the ongoing process of asset

Enterprise interoperability – get sub to connector you get to use same conduit while using other assets outside Bentley

CONNECTEdition OpenRoads – Concept Through Construction

Dustin Parkman, vice president, Civil and Reality Modeling, said the next generation of CONNECTEdition road design software OpenRoads provides concept through construction capability, on through detailed design and digital construction.

OpenRoads is advancing conceptual design using ConceptStation can create inspiring and innovative designs so users can prototype much earlier in the design process.

HNTB was able to create multiple complex interchanges in urban areas using OpenRoads ConceptStation.

With the new OpenRoads Designer, the successor to Bentley GEOPAK, users can take their design from conceptual design and move directly to detail design, rapidly model design intent as well as model all types of assets you need for a roadway asset. You can consume the data in 2D or 3D and the model is consequently updated along with plans, plan sets and models, you navigate from one to another. This product will be available December 1, 2016.

OpenBridge Modeler allows you to take the same design in ConceptStation and OpenRoads Designer into Modeler. These tools are all built on the same connected data environment. You can also take it out to analytics RBridge and Leap Bridge and take advantage of the same live concept.

With OpenRoads Navigator, you can take these designs and expand them to a broader audience, into construction.

Connect Advisor is a tool that adds onto your current apps that aggregates all your data from different workflows and documentation manuals and puts it together in one Advisor. You can have Bentley community posts piped in as well, and this can be subscribed to.

Analytical Modeling

OpenRoads includes 30-second clips you can view as you work contextually with your model being built around you, with the addition of streamed quick start guides. These capabilities are all available now.

Phil Christensen, vice president of Analytical Modeling, said that Bentley has rolled out CONNECTEditions of their analytical apps, Leap Bridge, RM Bridge, SACs STAAD, and Structural Navigator for mobile access.

Analytics Analysis and Simulation Services can use data from projects, models or analyses. You can create a specific model of the asset and observe its performance, simulating behavior of entire systems or series of models.

“We rolled out CONNECTEditions of our Optioneering to describe exploring options in context,” said Christensen, referring to the concept of “optioneering” that Greg Bentley had coined in a previous year to describe being able to analyze design options. By using SiteOpps for site analysis, integrating it with ContextCapture, users can try site optioneering in context.

“Inspectioneering,” the process of adding inspection data to the analysis process, allows you to attach inspection data to the model context. journey from traditional inspections with modern inspections, attaching inspection data to model context. Mobile inspections included in an analysis model context can be linked with engineering data and provide intelligent inspections.

The Wednesday Keynote featured CEO Greg Bentley, who enthusiastically talked about ProjectWise for (dis)connected project delivery with ProjectWise CONNECTEdition, that assumes you will have a hybrid environment and use many devices and sources of information.

Going digital with ProjectWise, means improving project outcomes, leveraging a hybrid cloud environment and providing digital project delivery. Virtualizing talent, control cost and schedule are the name of the game.

Some of these users are running more than 1 million business process automations per month.

The company Black and Veatch has a connected data environment whereby with ProjectWise CONNECTEdition, they will be able to access hybrid cloud computing and connect the owner to contractor to subcontractor and to stakeholders and more.

All references files and security compliance needs to stay in country with Microsoft data centers around the world and will reside in the automated model.

Convergence of what have been separate offerings up until now is available with AssetWise CONNECTEdition.

Bentley announced a partnership with TopCon, manufacturers of surveying and GIS equipment, surveying construction and engineering all- use 3D models.

TopCon’s CEO Ray O’Connor opened his talk by complimenting Greg Bentley on his word, “constructioneering.” “Why didn’t we think of that? We are driven by an overriding vision – the automation of construction,” said O’Connor. “Constructioneering is the perfect word to grab the attention of what we’ve been working on.”

The primary vision for construction professionals is to build smart and sustainable infrastructure. TopCon ascribes to the “You can’t manage what you can’t measure,” principle, a good tag line for a company whose core business is precision measurement.

The growth of GIS and demand for BIM have spurred the demand for measurement exponentially. TopCon’s 3D automation system EarthWork and Magnet software suite provide continuous representations of reality.

“You can’t manage in real time what you can’t measure in real time. The data you work with is constantly updated to give you real time information always,” said O’Connor. By injecting these capabilities, they’re accelerating the industries’ ability to connect virtual and real.

Topcon provides a full suite of data capture capabilities. Data from these sensors can be stitched together in their Magnet suite or Bentley’s suite of tools. The seamless connection between Bentley and TopCon clouds provides a setting with no lost time, no lost data and “perfect harmony between measurement, design, construction and inspection.”

Clouds, Security and Transformation

David Epp, Microsoft, Bentley’s platinum sponsor, remarked that Microsoft’s mission was to “empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

With a new CEO, and renewed focus on customers and partners, the company has built more innovative stuff, and paid attention to how those technologies serve themselves.

“Partners like Bentley take technology and build things that are transformative,” said Epp. Microsoft has 70,000 partners around the world.

Microsoft is of course, a household name. We are all familiar with their Azure cloud, Office program and others that we use day to day. They have added large scale touch, voice, and written communication that make devices more personal and natural.

Azure is used by 85% of Fortune 500 companies and attracts 120,000 new Azure customer subscriptions per month.

Their servers are run by about 10 people. “No one person has both physical and logical access to servers, for a security point of view,” said Epp.

With an intelligent cloud, Microsoft has built in predictive analytics and deep machine learning. “It’s not about building a product, it’s about making every one of our services, and our partners, smarter,” said Epp.

New technologies spur innovation, such as facial recognition from www.howold.net or a new development by Friends of Uber: as a driver checks in, they can take a photo vetted by Uber, confirming that the person who is supposed to pick you or your child up is one of their drivers.

Summary

These are just examples of services that can turn intelligence into actions. Bentley affirms GIS and geospatial becoming more integrated into our daily lives more seamlessly. That integration comes first and foremost into a hybrid connected data environment, one that is supported by connected clouds and sensors and measurement and platform.

]]>http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/03/bentley-year-in-infrastructure-2016-integrating-gis-and-bim/feed/0Maps for Voting Precincts Show Wait Times for Votinghttp://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/01/maps-for-voting-precincts-show-wait-times-for-voting/
http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/01/maps-for-voting-precincts-show-wait-times-for-voting/#commentsTue, 01 Nov 2016 22:22:16 +0000http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/?p=4703Maps are an integral part of the voting system in the U.S. As we approach this presidential election, sentiments are high and there is concern about such matters as voter fraud, voter suppression tactics that rarely have been critical issues in the past. As a result, the need to provide reassurance and accuracy to voters is paramount.

One way to address information for poll workers is by having accurate location-based solutions at the polling sites. Software companies such as Esri are hard at work developing location-based solutions that will provide poll workers storymaps online, as well as updated information on wait times at the polls so voters can avoid long lines. Christian Carlson, Esri’s Director for State, Local, and Provincial Government, spoke with GISCafe about their ability to upload real time wait times and other polling station data for poll workers with a GIS enabled mobile device, for those early voters.

Poll workers can upload this information instantly onto a map, providing their electorate with the most complete situational awareness through real-time wait times.

Cobb County, Georgia’s GIS team enabled their county’s professional poll workers to be able to upload real-time wait times for early voting, which are layered onto an online public-facing map, to help avoid lines on election day.

This is significant, because in the past this has been a very manual process. A worker at a polling place would have to send an email on the approximate wait times to a web administrator who would then post that time on a web map. The lag time between this information being sent, gathered, and then updated led to very inaccurate wait times that angered the electorate.

Cobb County, Georgia took it a step further by creating a story map into which they included the polling location map, but they also created layers/tabs with more polling information for the electorate in one, easily digestible, location. (This was one of the suggestions from the Pew Charitable Trust) They launched this the Monday early voting started and the response was impressive – over 13,000 views in just one week. And that is only related to early voting, which is only in two locations.

Forsythe County, NC is also using GIS to help provide real-time wait time information for early voting locations. Poll workers use iPads and a simple web interface that is, literally, a start and stop button. When a voter enters the polling queue, a poll worker gives them a plastic card on a lanyard and pushes the start button they see on their iPad screen. When the voter gets to the point of actually voting, they turn in the lanyard and the polling worker presses the stop button they see on their iPad screen. The duration between the start and the stop buttons being pressed is automatically uploaded to a database which syncs with the GIS web map publicly available online. The wait times displayed on the web map are updated every 30 seconds, providing voters with real-time wait time information. In less than a week since launch, there have been more than 16,000 views. While this is only intended for use during early voting, the county will consider rolling it out for future Election Days as well.

As an added bonus, these elapsed time records are not deleted – each one is saved, allowing this data to be reviewed post-election to help determine peak voting times, allowing for more informed planning for future elections.

GISCafe Voice: Both Georgia and NC are states where we are told to expect voter suppression tactics by the Republican party. Do you feel that this technology will be able to pick up on delays caused by possible interruption at the polls?

Absolutely – poll wait times are updated frequently throughout the day. In Cobb County, Georgia they are updated four times a day. In Forsyth County, North Carolina it is almost real time. The ability to see where various polling stations are located provides options for people who may not have known where other polling stations were located.

GISCafe Voice: Can voters view the wait times online before they leave their homes so they can find the best time to go?

Yes – for Cobb County, the wait times are updated up to four times a day.

Forsyth County, NC continually tracks the wait time using lanyards held by people as they go through the line. A poll worker hands a lanyard to a person as they enter a line and times how long it takes them to go through to cast their vote. These times are continually updated throughout the day.

GISCafe Voice: What kind of additional polling information is included in the Georgia storymap?

Cobb County has a story map that provides information including locations, what is required to vote early and a link to register to vote, on early voting locations, instructions on how to vote by mail, information on voting on election day and information on the Cobb County Elections office with a link to the webpage.

GISCafe Voice: Are voters able to view this technology on their phones and tablets?

Yes, the Esri technology is optimized for all devices. The apps the Counties created are not available as apps from an app store, but the websites can be accessed by anyone with an internet connection.

]]>http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/11/01/maps-for-voting-precincts-show-wait-times-for-voting/feed/0SmartBetterCities Released New Version of CloudCities Virtual Reality Toolhttp://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/26/smartbettercities-released-new-version-of-cloudcities-virtual-reality-tool/
http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/26/smartbettercities-released-new-version-of-cloudcities-virtual-reality-tool/#commentsWed, 26 Oct 2016 15:26:53 +0000http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/?p=4696In its first version, SmartBetterCities’ released CloudCities virtual reality tool, that can be imported from CityEngine, SketchUp and GoogleEarth. CloudCities is an online platform for hosting, sharing and visualizing smart 3D city models. The models are based on OpenStreetMap, are lightweight and used mostly by mobile users, with an easy drag-and-drop workflow. It was used in a development review at Harvard University urban campus in Kindle Square, where building sensors and monitoring were integrated into visualization. CloudCities’ newest release includes a massive 3D format support plus the marriage of BIM and GIS data in its 3D Mash-Up feature, plus support for numerous well-known GIS and BIM formats. CEO and co-founder Antje Kunze talked to GISCafe Voice about this exciting new release.

GISCafe Voice: Will the objects have relationships with each other in the new release?

Are you referring to our scene object? We refer to objects as the smallest pieces inside a CloudCities web scene. They can be selected edited, equipped with attributes, searched for, presented in dashboards, organized on layers and streamed. However, objects are not cross-referenced and have no parametric behavior. That might come in one of the next two releases.

GISCafe Voice: What makes it possible to combine BIM and GIS?

BIM and GIS exchange workflows are quite time-consuming. Therefore we included a massive 3D format support to CloudCites to make things much easier. But the real enabler for marrying BIM with GIS data is CloudCities’s 3D Mash-Up feature. It is like a 10-minute recipe. Users can now combine multiple files from BIM and GIS inside a single web scene. Or they upload 3D files as asset models. Assets can be then added to a CloudCities web scene by using drag and drop. If your data comes with attributes, you can immediately set up 3D search and dashboards. And you can use CloudCities to add geolocation or attributes – if you do not have any in your 3D. Beautiful and straightforward.
We currently support Esri 3D web scene (.3ws), Collada (.dae), Autodesk FBX, Google Earth (3D .kmz), Trimble SketchUp (.skp) and Wavefront Object (.obj). The next CloudCities releases will add support for IFC, REST service communication and more.

GISCafe Voice: Can you give me a sample workflow, of how this would work for someone building or making a city model?

Just imagine that you are an architect. Typically, you would iterate your design a couple of times, but clients would like to see the urban context. You received a 3D city model in a GIS format. Now you can combine your design data from your 3D CAD or BIM application with that model. Just by sharing everything online and mobile. There are more examples: civil engineers that want to have their subsurface piping from Autodesk Infraworks shown inside a city. Urban planners can use CloudCities to visualize zoning from Esri CityEngine or ArcGIS Pro and to let architects evaluate their designs. Facility managers can now combine their asset solution with GIS and BIM data. Before it was one or the other. Or even if you just like to update a 3D map for enterprise or university campus: You have your existing 3D base map in CloudCities. Now that a new building is added you can simply bring it in 3D into your online map and place it using the CloudCities editor. Or you are an engineer that needs to monitor and communicate construction progress. You take a 3D city model for context; you bring in your 3D construction plans and overlay with your latest drone flight 3D capture.

GISCafe Voice: Do you feel this will have equal value for both BIM and GIS users?

Yes, of course. BIM and GIS users always have looked at the other side of the fence. People had been longing for these new abilities for a long time.

]]>http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/26/smartbettercities-released-new-version-of-cloudcities-virtual-reality-tool/feed/0Located-Based Technology and Real-Time Election Mappinghttp://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/19/located-based-technology-and-real-time-election-mapping/
http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/19/located-based-technology-and-real-time-election-mapping/#commentsWed, 19 Oct 2016 16:05:55 +0000http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/?p=4690While the election plods on, behind the scenes there is a lot of geospatial technology being used to come up with various polls, real-time election maps, and determine election polling places that are helping people get to the polls and assist in the results reporting. Candidates, local and state governments are all trying to leverage the latest geographic and mapping solutions to better inform and motivate citizens, thereby changing election outcomes.

Esri is a HERE partner, layering HERE data on its GIS platform so both the public and private sectors can create apps to enable all the various election processes including volunteer recruiting; voter registration; polling place locators and site selections and navigation; voting district and early voting management; redistricting; and election history tracking and election night reporting. HERE is a company co-owned by German automotive companies Audi, BMW, and Daimler that has its roots in Navteq that was acquired by Nokia. HERE provides mapping data, technologies and services to the automotive, consumer and enterprise sectors and is based on a cloud-computing model.

“The platform includes instructions and codes that can easily be modified and populated with the data of an organization,” says Christopher. “The key to the solution is standardization. Users must have the same experience from one election to another.”

Election Campaigning

According to Web Map Solutions, GIS provides location intelligence primarily for election campaigning and voter processes. It can answer a range of location based questions, and display results via maps. Since elections are inherently geographic in nature, GIS provides key tools to help with election planning. For example:

* Finding concentrations of likely voters or supporters for more efficient targeting
* Search and display by a set of criteria e.g. show on a map all 2014 Primary Voters by district.
* Search, filter and display e.g. show on a map all 2014 primary voters who voted in the last 3 elections or show only hard democrats.
* Spatial query e.g. selecting a group of voters, by drawing a square on the map, will provide a voter summary. Maybe the number of voters selected, average distance between voters, total number of hard Republicans in this group, or number of perfect voters.
* Identifying best locations for candidate events.

Field staff use mobile GIS apps, and using these apps, field directors will be able to see the progress of sign placement operations, volunteer recruitment, and literature distribution. They will also be able to track the location of field workers while they are interacting with voters and view responses in real time. The data recorded in GIS systems can be used for mass e-mails, the content being related to the voters’ district or location.

Find your polling place

According to Connie Schmidt, election commissioner for Johnson County, Kansas, their election office develops what they call a “voting area map.” The map is developed several months prior to the election by gathering voter registration data by precinct to formulate and project expected voter turnout as well as election resources. This information becomes integrated into the GIS by merging numerical data with a spatial representation of voting precincts.Each polling place location undergoes strict evaluation, rating and coding for suitability. It must have compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act and provide general voter convenience by its location.

The following are criteria for the evaluation process:

Physically visiting and inspecting each location

Gathering photographs of parking, entryways and interior facilities

Determining machine, parking and ultimately voter capacity

Requirements for accessibility to people with disabilities

Availability of a location

Collin County, Texas has had tremendous results with its election polling places finder application — including 174K pageviews, 20K visits to the app and 27K routes generated from the mobile app.

“Rerouting people on their way to polling places with long wait times is a next level user experience,” says Christopher. “Technology is helping improve logistical voting decisions.”

Exit polls GIS data collection

Exit polls on election day are important as they can relate to election result prediction. GIS can be used to record problems at polling stations such as voter intimidation, which may be important in the upcoming election. Recording interview location, voter response, images of ID cards and polling station problems such as lack of handicapped parking can be important information that mobile GIS can help gather, to prevent the disfranchisement and intimidation of voters.

Tracking the elections

Election monitoring can also be incorporated into election apps and maps. For example, using the Esri platform, Fairfax County, Virginia shared results every 10 minutes and averaged 800 visitors per hour.

Candidates are using GIS for canvassing, and looking for swing voters by neighborhood. They can use alerts to remind people to vote and provide them with information, making it a lot easier in some cases, to reach the public than via door-to-door.

Much better results can be had by all political parties by being able to visualize their campaign on a map. They will have all the data in the one source GIS so they can conduct post-election analyses.

Schmidt puts it so well: “it takes a community to conduct a successful election.” Using GIS has allowed the Johnson County Election Office to exercise control over what they describe as a “moving target” i.e. conducting an election.

]]>http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/19/located-based-technology-and-real-time-election-mapping/feed/0ACLU Criticizes Social Media for Allowing Access to Contenthttp://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/13/aclu-criticizes-social-media-for-allowing-access-to-content/
http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/2016/10/13/aclu-criticizes-social-media-for-allowing-access-to-content/#commentsThu, 13 Oct 2016 18:16:01 +0000http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/gissusan/?p=4685An article this week in The New York TimesPolice Use Surveillance Tool to Scan Social Media about Chicago company Geofeedia’s use of text, photos and videos from social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to aid in law enforcement sparks controversy about law enforcement vs. civil liberties.

The use of location technology to solve crimes is nothing new. The use of social media content in a specific location is relatively new, and a potent resource for law enforcement.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing, or is it, like all new technologies, fraught with the potential for misuse as well as for the common good? It is sort of like the case of the hammer: you can use it to build a house, or to hit someone over the head with it.

We have covered Geofeedia quite extensively in GISCafe news, for use in retail, public safety, disaster response and law enforcement etc. Additional uses for Geofeedia services remain to be seen, but it may be extremely helpful for averting violence at certain events.

It is really a case of, we have the technology, so how do we use it to its best advantage without damaging civil liberties of the individual?

Geofeedia’s tool allows users to search for social media content in a specific location, as opposed to searching by words or hashtags that would be less likely to identify an exact location.

Over 500 law enforcement agencies have signed up for Geofeedia’s solutions, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The company shows how Baltimore officials were able to track and respond to violent protests that broke out after Freddie Gray died in police custody in April 2015, using their tool.

The ACLU reports says that Geofeedia has used programs freely offered by social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter that allow app developers or advertising companies to create third-party tools. In response to criticism from ACLU saying that social media companies have been “lax” in monitoring their data, social media companies say they’ve stopped Geofeedia’s access to their information.

According to The New York Times article: “These platforms should be doing more to protect the free speech rights of activists of color,” Matt Cagle, a lawyer with the A.C.L.U. in Northern California, said in an interview. “When they open their feeds to companies that market surveillance products, they risk putting their users in harm’s way.”

Each of the companies had a concern for how their data was being used. Instagram and Facebook terminated Geofeedia’s access to their data in September, while Twitter shut off access on Tuesday. The companies suggested that Geofeedia was using social media data in a way that was not allowed under their developer agreements. The public data made available by Facebook, for example, was subject to access limitations stated in the company’s platform policy. Developers are required to provide a privacy policy that details what data they are collecting and how the data is intended to be used. Consent is also required from people before using any Facebook technology that collects and processes data about them.

In response to this news, Team Geofeedia issued a blog entitled A Commitment to Freedom of Speech and Civil Liberties, in which it defined Geofeedia’s role as a “software platform that aims to provide important, real-time, publicly available information to a broad range of private and public sector clients, including corporations, media and journalism groups, marketing and advertising firms, educational companies, cities, schools, sports teams, and the aviation sector.”

Phil Harris, chief executive of Geofeedia, said in a statement that his company “provides some clients, including law enforcement officials across the country, with a critical tool in helping to ensure public safety while protecting civil rights and liberties.” He said the firm has policies to prevent “inappropriate use of our software.”

Mr. Harris added that the company understands that given how quickly digital technology changes, Geofeedia “must continue to work to build on these critical protections of civil rights.”

The blog states: “In each of these areas, Geofeedia is committed to the principles of personal privacy, transparency, and both the letter and the spirit of the law when it comes to individual rights. Our platform provides some clients, including law enforcement officials across the country, with a critical tool in helping to ensure public safety while protecting civil rights and liberties.

Notably, our software has also been used in response and recovery efforts – from the Boston Marathon to the effects of Hurricane Matthew that we saw this past weekend – to assist millions of people affected by both manmade and natural events.

Geofeedia has in place clear policies and guidelines to prevent the inappropriate use of our software; these include protections related to free speech and ensuring that end-users do not seek to inappropriately identify individuals based on race, ethnicity, religious, sexual orientation or political beliefs, among other factors. That said, we understand, given the ever-changing nature of digital technology, that we must continue to work to build on these critical protections of civil rights.

Geofeedia will continue to engage with key civil liberty stakeholders, including the ACLU, and the law enforcement community to make sure that we do everything in our power to support the security of the American people and the protection of personal freedoms.”

The ACLU got wind of the use of Geofeedia when 60+ law enforcement agency records revealed a significant expansion of social media surveillance.

“Posts on social media platforms can reveal information about our location, our religion, the people we associate with,” Cagle said. “Users of social media websites do not expect or want the government to be monitoring this information. And users should not be at risk of being branded a risk to public safety simply for speaking their mind on social media.”

The New York Times has used Geofeedia technology in the past, but stated that it has not used it since 2015.

Regardless of the threat to civil liberties, it does appear that such location-based information gleaned from social media is here to stay, for reasons of national security, community security, disaster response and recovery, etc. Thus it would seem policies to protect civil rights of individuals need to be quickly put in place. Geofeedia is not the only company providing this sort of surveillance. See our story in GISCafeVoiceVencore Aggregates Data from many Open Sources and Social Media